A good leader should lead, follow or get out of the way. The present leaders are doing none of these and have proved to be a stumbling block on the country's stride towards development
It is very unfortunate that the popularity of the political leaders has been taking a nosedive like an ill-fated plane heading for a crash when compared to the yesteryears in Nepal.
The recent sacrificial ritual conducted by Pushpa Khatiwada, a religious teacher, though weird, is certainly a testimony to this phenomenon. He had organised the ritual wishing death to the three ace political leaders of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba, K P Oli and Puspa Kamal Dahal. His contention is that these political leaders have reached the country to this undesirable pass, and they deserve to be dead. The police have arrested Khatiwada on the charge of committing a cybercrime, and the court has ordered to keep him behind bars for three days to seek clarification about his misconduct.
This is not the first time that a verbal attempt on the life of the top political leaders has been made. A lawmaker of Bagmati Province, Narottam Baidya, had threatened to kill then Prime Minister Oli for the political turmoil in 2021. He backtracked on his statement after facing criticism from all around, including from inside his own party, the Nepali Congress (NC).
Many political leaders have been handed over punitive action by the people in history for their excesses. One of them was Sada Shiva Malla, who reigned in the late 17th century. The king was fond of horse riding, which he used to unleash in the agricultural fields that destroyed the people's crops. People were doubly angry after the lecherous king sexually assaulted the local maidens who had come to participate in the local fair. He was beaten severely when he was on a riverside cruise. He later took refuge in Bhaktapur. But the Bhaktapur king upon knowing his excesses imprisoned him in one of the palace chowks. He later disappeared from his imprisonment cell forever.
King Rana Bahadur Shaha had to face similar treatment for his eccentric behaviour. He had forcibly married Kanti Bati, a widow who had come to pay homage to Lord Pashupatinath. She was attacked by small pox, for which the king made prayers and offerings to the temples as well as the priests, respectively. But the queen succumbed to the disease, and the king not only demolished many of the temples but also smeared them with human waste. Furthermore, he took the offerings back from the priests. As a result, he had to run away to Benares.
Despite this, Nepal has been bestowed with dedicated political leaders who have been held in high regard. B P Koirala and Puspa Lal were two such leaders in the first democratic era that emerged on the Nepali political horizon after the People's Revolution in 1950 which uprooted the rule of the tyrannical Rana rulers. In the second democratic era, which again staged a comeback after the 1990 People's Movement, leaders like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai known for owning an umbrella and a pitcher along with Mana Mohan Adhikari greatly impressed the people. This mantle was carried by Sushil Koirala who had only five mobiles as his property.
The leaders who followed, however, paled in comparison to their predecessors. They have allegedly got tainted with one scam or the other. Some of them are the Wide Body, Din Bandhu Tea estate and the Cantonment allowance scams, which are linked to Deuba, Oli and Dahal, respectively. There are many factors responsible for this state of affairs. Firstly, it is their undue long stint as prime ministers and presidents of the parties. These leaders have held the coveted post of the prime minister seven, four and three (or even five) times, respectively. Secondly, there is a widespread feeling among the people that these leaders have been sticking to the topmost chair to cover up the scandals.
The recent agreement reached by the NC and the Unified Marxist-Leninist at midnight is also speculated as an attempt to evade the punishment that is hanging like a Damocles sword over these party leaders. It has been attributed to the most unlikely event of the two largest parties of the Parliament forming the government instead of the conventional assumption of the government and the opposition benches.
This has shown how the popularity of the political leaders has hit rock bottom in Nepal. Such a phenomenon has also been observed in Australia as described in a study made by Sarah Cameron et al entitled "The decline of political leader popularity: Partisan dealignment and leader integrity in Australia". The leaders were assessed against the widely acknowledged traits of politicians, such as being trustworthy, honest, inspiring, compassionate, sensible, strong leadership, knowledgeable and intelligent. These traits have assumed more importance as people are getting less and less attached to the parties thus practicing partisan dealignment. It has been found that the major Australian leaders have become less popular as in the European countries.
In Nepal also the popularity of the leaders has reached the nadir primarily because they are not trustworthy. Had they been so, they would not be changing the coalition so often. The lack of trustworthiness leads to absence of honesty. An untrustworthy and dishonest leader cannot inspire the people. One cannot expect the other traits such as compassion, sensibility and strong leadership from such persons.
This is very sad because all these leaders were at one time portrayed as the harbinger of progress and prosperity in Nepal. But they have become like damp squibs at the best. A good leader should lead, follow or get out of the way. The present leaders are doing none of these and have proved to be a stumbling block on the country's stride towards development. Neither are they leading well nor allowing others to take over. This is the reason for the snail pace of development in Nepal, which invites undesirable but seemingly right frustration from people like Khatiwada and Baidya.
